Their first home game was on October 15, 1978 in the 11,000-seat Sports Arena. Had they managed to draw 9,000 more fans, they would have sold out.

“Nothing was expected from that team,” said Clippers play-by-play man Ralph Lawler, who began his stint with the franchise during its first year in San Diego. “It was such a unique situation.”

Unique is one way to put it. The roster was an amalgam of draft picks, former Braves, and former Celtics… but not Hall of Famers like John Havlicek or Jo Jo White.

Instead, you had forward Kermit Washington, who was best known then for nearly killing Rudy Tomjanovich with a right cross during a Lakers-Rockets game. You had outspoken guard Randy Smith, whose voice was almost as loud as his wardrobe, which included an equestrian outfit complete with leather whips.

You had coach Gene Shue overseeing the Breakfast Club of NBA teams, which had acquired veterans like Swen Nater, Kevin Kunnert, Sidney Wicks and Nick Weatherspoon, rookies like Freeman Williams, John Olive and Jerome Whitehead, and a fourth-year guard named Lloyd Free — known around the league as “World” — who was notorious for having “never met a shot he didn’t like.”

“I had been traded from Philly, and I remember the first time I walked into the (Clippers’) locker room how quiet it got. All eyes were on me, and I know they were all thinking ‘we ain’t going to get no shots anymore,’ ” said Free, who would later legally change his name to World. “But I did pass the ball. You know, it would slip out every now and then.”

Nater joked that he and teammates would pass the ball to each other before giving it to Free, “just so we could touch it before it went up.” But in reality, nobody minded when World would chuck.

Despite posting 13.5 points per game through the first three years of his career, Free averaged 28.8 that season in San Diego — second in the NBA behind George Gervin — while shooting a career-high 48.1 percent from the field.

It was no doubt a pleasant surprise. And for the Clippers, that would become a theme that year.

Washington’s career included stints with the Lakers, Celtics, Blazers and Warriors. He said the most fun he ever had was his season in San Diego.

Free went to the NBA Finals with Dr. J and the Sixers in 1977. He said his time with the Clippers is what he remembers most fondly.

Nater played alongside Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson in the mid-1980s, and, well … you get the idea.

Whether it was the Pacific Ocean, Mission Bay, or the Carlsbad Lagoon, something was in the water for those first-year Clippers. And while fans didn’t know it, the team would soon suck them in like a Del Mar rip tide.

Not before Christmas, of course, considering San Diego was 11-18 midway through December. And not before Valentine’s Day, either, as it was 27-31 on Feb. 13.